Fab Flournoy says signing Deondre Parks up to his first professional basketball contract was the quickest piece of recruitment he has ever done.

But that does not mean the 23-year-old combo guard did not do his homework on Newcastle Eagles and just like Flournoy, the American was impressed with what he learnt.

From watching videos to Parks putting pen to paper, Flournoy thinks the process took “two to three days” but plenty happened in that time.

The player-coach liked what he saw when assistant Dave Forrester suggested the former South Dakota State player, and the pair quickly tracked down a number.

“I talked for about an hour on the phone with Fab and he was very up front with me about how things work and what he wanted me to do,” says Parks, one of three new faces for next season along with Orlan Jackman and Christian Behrens.

“I didn’t know much about the Eagles but once I got that phonecall I did my research and a couple of guys back home told me who they were because they’d played in Europe before.

“They told me they were a great BBL organisation, one of the best British teams of all time.

“I got in touch with Fletch (Rahmon Fletcher) and from there I just fell in love with it and I went for it.”

Parks did not know Fletcher, in his second spell on Tyneside, at the time.

“I took it upon myself to contact Fletch, the American I saw was on the team,” Parks explains.

“I just looked up the players, added him on Facebook, and got some words from him about the organisation and things like that.